1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article support system for supporting at least one article, and particularly to an article support system having multiple utilities and which is capable of supporting various types of articles, and which is also capable of interacting with cupholders in, for example, vehicles, including, but not limited to automotive vehicles, boats, aircraft, rail vehicles and agricultural equipment, such as riding lawn mowers. The invention is particularly suited for use in providing support for securely holding articles, including but not limited to food trays, note pads, cellular phones, coin holders, beverage containers and the like.
2. Description of Background Information
Vehicular travel, particularly automotive travel, continues to become an increasing aspect of modern society. For example, as more time is spent in automobiles, activities in automobiles other than driving have become common place. Thus, various systems have been provided for supporting various articles involved in such activities, such as, for example, note pads, cellular phones, meals, etc. As a result, automotive, marine vessel and aircraft interior designers have provided, among other things, power plugs for phones, mirrors for make-up, and, of course, cupholders. Most vehicles are manufactured and/or sold with at least some type of cupholder and such cupholders traditionally, have been of extremely varied size and configuration.
However, prior to the present invention, such cupholders have been of relatively limited utility. For example, while cupholders can be used incidentally to store, e.g., small items, and articles which can be friction-fit into the cupholder, cupholders are not associated with reliable article support systems. The present invention provides an article support system which is capable of very easily interacting with cupholders to provide such reliable support for supporting various articles.
The technology of this application is generally related to the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,013 to John A. BRIDGES and assigned to Aladdin Industries, Incorporated. U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,013 is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 704,024, filed May 22, 1991, now abandoned. U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,013 is also related to currently pending application Ser. No. 07/980,113, filed Nov. 23, 1992, which is also a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 704,024, filed May 22, 1991, now abandoned.
The foregoing applications and patent to BRIDGES are hereby incorporated by reference as though set forth in full herein.
The technology disclosed in the foregoing documents provides a beverage container system which supports a variety of beverage containers and prevents beverage containers from tipping, even under extreme conditions, without requiring a substantial portion of the beverage container's overall height to be encircled in order for the beverage container to be adequately held.
Another approach involves the use of adapters inserted into cupholders. U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,673 to CHANDLER, U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,145 to EVANS et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,088 to DE ANGELI disclose examples of this approach.
Various article supports, such as trays, have been provided in combination with, for example, drink holders and the like. Thus, YOUNG, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,063 discloses a concession tray used to carry food and drinks. The tray may be secured to an arm rest by means of one of three cup receptacles which can be inserted into a cupholder formed in an armrest.
However there is still a need for an article support system which is reliable and can interact with a vehicular or automotive container holder to reliably support, for example, food items, cellular phones, notepads, eyeglasses and the like, with minimal effort required on the part of consumer. Moreover, there is still a need for such an article support system which provides secure, reliable support for a variety of such articles, spaced a substantial horizontal distance from the cupholder or base support, and wherein the base support is capable of receiving and securely holding a variety of different containers of various sizes and configuration.
However, there has been a continuing need for improvement.